Burnaboy’s latest film, “Whiskey,” advocates for Niger Delta on climate change

By Yemi Olakitan

Burnaboy, a rockstar in Nigeria, has released a documentary about the environmental harm caused by oil in his homeland. It highlights the Niger Delta’s decades-long neglect and the devastating consequences of recent major flooding.

Burnaboy, also known as Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu, is undoubtedly one of the most well-known figures in modern African music.

Burna Boy, a native of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, is a recipient of multiple honours, including the Grammy and BET awards.

The singer, who is from Port Harcourt, Nigeria, illustrates in his most recent documentary, “Whiskey,” the effects that flooding, gas flare-ups, and oil bunkering can have on the lives of Nigerians living in the Niger Delta. The nation’s oil is produced in the Niger Delta, which is also home to numerous oil refineries. One of the greatest floods to hit Nigeria in decades occurred this year. According to reports, the floods has resulted in more than 600 fatalities, 1.4 million people being displaced, and the destruction of 440,000 hectares of crops. Burnaboy exposes the negative effects of environmental degradation in the area in a 16-minute documentary based on the tune from his most recent album, Love, Damini.

Previously known as the Garden City, Port Harcourt has transformed into a soot-covered city that makes life miserable for its inhabitants and causes respiratory illnesses, heart failure, and death.

According to the Nigerian government, illegal oil refineries operate in a way that contributes to pollution.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 3.2 million people succumb to illnesses brought on by air pollution each year.

Similar to this, according to world bank environmental data, 94% of Nigerians were exposed to high levels of air pollution in 2015 that exceeded WHO recommendations.

With an air quality score of 188, a 2018 study ranked Port Harcourt as one of the most polluted cities in the world.

Contamination
Water, particularly those ingested by locals, is being contaminated by the Port Harcourt soot levels.

People who have been severely impacted by the issue are shown in the documentary, including a woman who lost her child to respiratory disease brought on by polluted air, a truck driver whose truck is submerged on an undulating motorway, a young man whose home was recently flooded, and a doctor who reiterates the severe effects of the damage to the oil city.

Burna Boy said during a December 8, 2022, showing of “Whiskey”:

Everything was significantly worse than how I had left it. When you got up, everything, including the automobiles, would be dark because the air was so heavily polluted. What you see in the documentary is exactly how it is.

For my people, this is daily life as it really is. We’ll probably write songs about everything else, so why not write songs about what’s actually happening and how it affects people right now? That is what “Whiskey” is about. I hope it accomplishes its purpose, raises the required awareness, and results in some kind of change.

Legacy of Saro-Wiwa

Before Burnaboy’s “Whiskey,” there was Nigerian writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, who vociferously denounced the country’s military government and the oil mining operations that were causing environmental harm to the Ogoni people’s homeland in his native Rivers state in the Niger Delta.

In the 1990s, the author co-founded MOSOP, also known as the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People.

The group said that the 500,000 Ogoni people in the area had not benefited from oil extraction, which had ruined the ecosystem in the area.

However, Saro-agitation Wiwa’s had terrible repercussions. In what is now known as the Ogoni Nine case, he and eight other people were charged with planning the horrifying murder of some Ogoni chiefs.

On November 10, 1995, the military regime of General Sani Abacha cruelly executed Saro-Wiwa by hanging.

What is the current situation?

There hasn’t been much of a shift since Saro-Wiwa was killed on the court.

Despite being the centre of Nigeria’s oil production, the Niger Delta region’s residents have received little attention in terms of sustainable jobs and infrastructure.

Young people have been compelled to seek out illicit means of earning money by engaging in oil bunkering and illegal crude oil refining as a result of this. And Port Harcourt is covered in environmental degradation as a result of this.